


An Unexpected Solution

by yankeetooter



Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-05-18 17:26:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19339162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yankeetooter/pseuds/yankeetooter
Summary: Boris helps a random woman on the street, having no idea how it will change his life.





	1. A chance encounter

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, starting yet another story. This one is another Valery/Boris story, but with me thrown in. Crazy I know, but chalk it up to several things...1) the fact that I am smitten with both Valery and Boris, as portrayed by Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard., 2) that I am even more in love with the idea of Valoris, the two of them together, and 3) that if somehow I could have been thrown into their world at the time (after Chernobyl but before Valery's death), I think I would have done anything I could to help them be together.
> 
> I think it's all the Diet Coke I drink...it's starting to affect my brain.
> 
>  
> 
> (By the way, I wasn't sure of all the exact dates of events surrounding Chernobyl (except of course the incident itself and Valery's suicide, so forgive me if I fudged a little)
> 
> And, as always, this fiction is based loosely on the characters in the Chernobyl miniseries that HBO aired in 2019. No disrespect is meant to any of the real persons involved in Chernobyl.

I walked through the streets of Moscow, shivering in the cold wind. "Better get used to it", I thought to myself. "You're here for two years". As unlikely as it seemed, I had landed a job at the Kurchatov institute, albeit a lowly one, but still a minor miracle of my past studies and a lot of fudged paperwork. An American no less, as far as Moscow was concerned, I was from East Germany, and had passed with flying colors in the field of nuclear technology. It was February, 1987.

I was trying to find the institute, but somewhere I took a wrong turn. The streets around me began to look a lot less inviting, and I had to admit I was lost. In my trying to regain my orientation again, I failed to notice the two unsavory men following me from a distance. I decided to cut through an alley to reach a street that I was fairly certain would take me back in the direction I needed to go. The men caught up to me halfway down the alley. I moved to run, but they tripped me up and slammed me to the ground, leers on their faces. I fought back like a rabid dog, but that only encouraged them to get rougher with me. I felt pain explode in my side as one of them kicked me. Then my head was slammed into the ground and the world went black.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boris Shcherbina was standing on the corner, waiting for his driver to come back and pick him up. He had sent the driver off while he ran his errand, because, you know, you just didn't know who you could trust, ever. Well, no, there had been one person in his life who he could trust...Valery...and he was doing everything he could to be able to be with him again.

He glanced across the street and saw two men approaching a woman. They grabbed her in the middle of an alley, and when she tried to fight them off, they began kicking and hitting her. Something boiled up in Boris. All the rage from the past 10 months, the frustrations, the acceptance of his own mortality, losing Valery, erupted in a split second. He was down the alley in a flash, and picked up the first guy, tossing him into the wall like a rag doll. The second guy should have run. He foolishly thought he would stay and fight. He pulled a knife, but Boris was quicker and snapped his neck without remorse.

Remorse...all those liquidators, the miners, the divers. It threatened to consume him still. But this, no. Not for what they would have done to this woman, what they had already done.  
___________________________________________

When I finally came around, it was like trying to come to the surface of a very deep pool. Breathing was an agony. The darkness kept trying to pull me back under. The pain was exquisite, and centered both in my side and the back of my head. Darkness again...

When finally I came to again, there was a big man looming over me, but not one of my assailants. He was older, and had a bit of an unhealthy pallor. He was tall, and wore a great coat. There was a scowl on his face, but in his eyes was compassion and concern.

"Can you sit up?" he asked in a raspy voice.

I tried to answer, but taking too much air into my lungs was not an option right now. Instead, I made a valiant effort to sit up. And blacked out again, even as I felt his strong hands grabbing to support me.

Fading in...strong hands, lifting me up like I was a child...fading out. Fading in again for a moment...I was being lifted into a car. The raspy voice tells the driver to go the nearest hospital....fading out.  
  



	2. Who was that (masked) man?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> quick interlude in the hospital

I woke up in the bright sterile atmosphere of a hospital room.  My head still ached a bit, and my side was very tender, but at least my consciousness wasn't fading in and out. I went to sit up, and the room spun alarmingly. A nurse came in the room just then, saw me trying to sit up, and hurried to my side. "Lie back down, please." I was all too happy to comply, as the room was beginning to tilt more and more.

The next day. "Feeling better?" The nurse was back. "Yes, much better, thanks. What day is it?" When the nurse told me, I grimaced. "I...I need to get in touch with the Kurchatov Institute. I was supposed to start work there two days ago!"

"Relax. They know what happened. Deputy Chairman Shcherbina made sure they knew of your injuries. You're to take as much time as you need to recover."

Deputy Chairman Shcherbina...so that was who my rescuer was.


	3. The Silent Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I make it to the institute, where things are not quite what I had expected. I encounter a lonely, isolated soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had read somewhere that Legasov returned to the institute to work (what on I don't know) after his banishment, though with all titles and authority removed. This chapter is based on the presumption of that being true.

It was my third day on the job at the Kurchatov Institute, but whatever illusion I had maintained about what it would be like to work there had been shattered the very first day. I really had studied nuclear physics (just not in East Germany) and was very interested in working in the field. Of course, the main reason I had been sent there was to keep my eyes and ears open for the CIA, but I planned to further my experience in nuclear physics as well.

Of course, I knew I was not going to start in any sort of top position at the institute. Not only was I a foreigner (even if from another Communist country), but jobs in general, wherever you were, did not usually work that way. Still, I found I was looked on with a thinly veiled contempt, and was given the duties of a glorified house cleaner, with a few administrative duties thrown in from time to time. When I started to comment on this my first day, I was quickly shut down, and was led to believe that if I didn't want to be dismissed immediately I had better learn to keep my mouth shut. I did have a small (very small) office where in my off hours I could study, so I tried to look at things in as positive a light as I could.

At any rate, I went to the cafeteria to grab my lunch (at least we got our meals free, not that that was saying much). As the cafeteria was about to close until dinner, the place had very few people in it, except for a few others I recognized who were grabbing their lunches at the last minute too. Over near the end of the cafeteria, sitting totally isolated was a middle-aged man. He had dark, thin hair, large glasses of the kind typical in Russia at that time, and looked like he was not in the best of health. Everything about his demeanor suggested dejection and loneliness. Of the few people who walked by him on their way in or out, not one bothered to greet him. If anything, they seemed to draw back from him as if they wanted nothing to do with him.

"Who's that?" I asked a nearby woman I had gotten on somewhat friendly terms with.

"Shh! That's Valery Legasov and nobody talks to him. I'm not sure exactly why, but apparently he was somehow disgraced by the Party. I wouldn't risk talking to him, as I'm pretty sure the KGB are keeping an eye on him. Anyway, he keeps to himself all the time, hardly ever leaves his office except for meals."

I glanced over to Legasov's tray. On it were an uneaten apple and a sandwich with one bite taken out of it. What I wouldn't learn until later was that he had at one point stopped eating altogether, so that the KGB had told him he was to come to the cafeteria every day to eat, or his friends might suffer the worse for it. I was burning with curiosity; plus, I am very empathetic and could just feel the emotional pain radiating from this man. Getting my food, and dawdling until everyone else had left, I sat down at the same table as Legasov, but up at the other end, so that I could observe him without being too obvious about it. He must have sensed my gaze after awhile, as he looked up and met my eyes for a few moments. The anguish I saw in him rocked me to the core. What must he have gone through to have become this way? I wanted to try and talk to him so badly, but at that point a bell sounded and an announcement came over the loudspeaker that the cafeteria was closing for lunch, and that everyone should leave. I reluctantly grabbed my tray to deposit it along the side wall. Legasov stood up quickly and kind of clumsily, and began grabbing everything in front of him. He did not meet my eyes as he passed me, but went to deposit his tray at the window, then walked out of the cafeteria quickly with his head down. Walking back past where he had been sitting, I noticed a small, pocket-sized notebook on the ground where he must have dropped it in his hurry. I picked it up, and looked up, but he was long gone. Opening it up, I saw notes he had written , many to someone he must have lost at some point in the past, although a name was never mentioned. Turning another page, I was struck by a sketch of a tall man in a great coat. I froze when I saw the face...it looked just like the man who had rescued me in the alley, Boris Shcherbina!


	4. I meet Valery, and witness something horrible.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emptying trash leads to an encounter and a horrific incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nensi, by the way, is the Russian equivalent of Nancy, my name. I went with the Western alphabet or it would have been Нэнси.
> 
> If you notice that I switch between Legasov and Valery a lot, the distinction is that I use Legasov in the earlier part of the story, as we did not know each other well yet. However, later on, he is Valery to me (or when referencing conversations we had later on.) Also, I gave him my first name from the first, as it is more normal among Americans to do so, even when first meeting someone. (Of course, he had no idea I was American at the time.)

Valery tore his office apart looking for his little notebook. What could he have done with it? He knew he had had it that morning, and had slipped it in his pocket before going to the cafeteria. While down there, he had taken it out for a moment, as a particular verse of a poem had come to him in that moment, and he wanted to get it written down before he forgot it again.

A feeling of nausea settled in his stomach. Could he have dropped it in the cafeteria? In a panic, he went back down to the cafeteria, but it was now closed. Still, between the glass panels of the doors, he could see where he had been sitting and the floor beneath. There was nothing either on the table or the floor. With a frantic feeling, he hurriedly retraced his steps.

All his poems, all his notes to Boris, which he would never be able to actually give him, all those sketches of Boris...they were all in that little book. And what if someone found it? What if they put two and two together, and Boris came under scrutiny or was even demoted? He had been so careful to not write Boris' name anywhere in the book, but he was rather good at sketching and anyone who knew he and Boris had worked together, and knew Boris by sight would easily recognize him from Valery's drawings.

He turned his apartment upside down the rest of the evening, but with no luck. That night he hardly slept for fear of what had happened to his notebook.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tried in vain to (subtly, mind you) find out where Valery's office and apartment were. (He was living on campus at that point, no doubt to further restrict his ability to contact friends.) But, given the first reaction I had gotten when asking about who he was, I was loathe to put myself under suspicion by showing too much interest. The next day, however, presented an opportunity. One of the other newer workers, whose job it was to go around and empty the trash from every room, came down with the flu, and, being such a popular person at the institute (not!), I was given this honor in their stead.

I might have complained, for all the good it would do me, except it gave me an idea of how I might be able to find Legasov and return his book. Since I would have to go in every apartment and office to empty the trash, and since Legasov hardly left his apartment except for meals, there was a pretty good chance I would run into him, if not today, then surely in the next couple of days. And so it began. The first day I had no luck. (In talking later with Valery, he thinks this might have been the day that he was called into a meeting with the KGB, who took every opportunity to torment him with questioning.) The second day, however...

I knocked once, but when there was no answer, I entered the vestibule of the office/apartment. (I had been told to do this as part of procedure by my boss, but it still felt awkward to walk into a room where someone might be.) And there he was, Valery Legasov, the man I had seen in the cafeteria. If anything, he looked even more worn out than the other day. He looked up in confusion at my entering, although when he saw me with the trash bin in hand, he nodded abstractedly and went back to his work.

"Hi...uh...I'm sorry for interrupting...." Legasov looked up again as I walked further into his office. "It's just that I found this on the floor of the cafeteria the other day after you had left. I tried to return it to you but you had long sense disappeared down the hallway." As I said these words, I extended the little notebook to him with a gentle smile. The look on Legasov's face was one of stunned incredulity, and a bit of suspicion.

"Is it a trap?" he thought. "Maybe this is their way of confirming this is mine before they take it out on Boris." But mainly he was filled with relief at having the little book in his possession again. He had figured he would never again hold it in his hands.

"I'm Nensi, by the way, " extending my hand. Legasov looked at my hand for so long I thought for sure he wouldn't take it. But, finally, he reached out and took my hand in both of his and said, "I'm Legasov". (Valery later shared with me that he was not used to physical touch, even in his past, except for one notable exception.) His handshake was firm and his hands were warm, and as we shook, he smiled the briefest of smiles, rather shy.

I was somewhat taken aback by his trust...also, how could anyone not want to get to know him given half a chance? "Er, " gesturing to his tray, still mostly untouched, "I was going to offer to return your tray for you, but it's looks like you're still eating."

"No, thank you, but I've had all I want for now. You can take it." He handed it to me, and I noticed that his hands shook and that he moved somewhat clumsily. I was struck again with the impression that he was not well at all, not in body or in spirit, and I'm afraid I rather surprised myself (and him) when I placed my hands over his for a moment, steadying the tray and holding them there for a few moments. The look in his eyes said how desperate he was for human touch, how much he needed a friend...and then the moment had passed and his gaze turned downward. I wanted to stay longer, to ask him what he had gone through that had obviously hurt him so much (and about Shcherbina!), but had no further excuse to stay. Taking the tray from him, I nodded to him and made my way out.

From then on, I pretty much saw him everyday. In fact, once or twice when I came by for his trash and he wasn't there, I left and doubled back later so I could see him. I'd like to say that we became fast friends, but there was an inherent mistrust in Legasov, no doubt from growing up in the USSR, and things were slow to progress any further. Still, he did look up with a half smile whenever I came in, and never seemed put out that I was there. I would sneak him little tidbits from the cafeteria to entice him to eat, with some little success (things that they had run out of before he made his slow way to lunch). His strength and overall demeanor did not improve, however, and I became ever more worried about him. One day I came in, and he was asleep at his desk. I didn't have the heart to wake him, so I gathered up his trash quietly and left.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------

One day I was in his office when a dreadful knocking came on the door. His face was instantly transformed with fear. "Quick! You have to get out of sight!" he whispered frantically. "They can't see you, you'll be in so much trouble!" We both spun around, looking for somewhere for me to hide, and my eyes fixed on the small cabinet under the sink. I could just fit under there, I thought, and made haste to. I held the door open the smallest fraction of an inch so I could see what was happening while Legasov went to the door.

No sooner had he got to the vestibule, then the door burst in, and a few intimidating men entered the room. (One was Charkov, head of the KGB, as I learned later.) One of the men grabbed up Legasov by the lapels of his suit jacket and slammed him against the wall, hard, while I looked on in horror from my hiding place. "Time to make yourself scarce for awhile!" they told him, and began to drag him to a closet in the hallway. Legasov fought like a scrawny cat, but too no avail. They punched him repeatedly, slamming his head against the wall again and again so that after a few moments there was no more fight in him, until...from down the hall, I heard a somewhat familiar voice, bellowing at staff. It was like someone had put a cattle prod to Legasov...he began to fight even harder, and tried to call out, but a gag was slapped on him. Then one of the guards brought his pistol butt down on Legasov's head and he fell unconscious to the floor. They picked him up and threw him into the closet.

The next moment Boris Shcherbina could be heard going from door to door in the hallway, entering each room and calling out for Legasov. "Where is he? I know you've been keeping him holed up at the institute. What have you done with him?" Finally, he arrived at the door of Legasov's apartment, where the KGB stood in the doorway. The older man (Charkov) spoke up at that moment and said, "He's not in any of these apartments. Perhaps he made his way to the cafeteria, or maybe the little fool decided to run once and for all."

If you have never seen Boris Shcherbina in a rage, trust me when I say it is quite the sight to see. Picture a grizzly bear and a wolf all rolled up into one. He stood there seething, his hands tied for the moment, as the KGB agents were standing there, clearly armed. "I know you're hiding him somewhere, Charkov! I will find him, and there better not be one hair harmed on his head!" And then he stormed out. I huddled in the cabinet, wanting to call out so badly to Shcherbina, but it would not have helped the situation, and might have very well gotten one or all of us killed.

It was at least ten minutes after the KGB left before I found the courage to leave my hiding place and go help Legasov. I was going to have to find a way to get in touch with Shcherbina.


	5. Valery begins to heal.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While recuperating, Valery and I become fast friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual...not real people, not my characters...

I rushed to the closet, where I found Valery barely conscious.  He had a nasty cut on his temple, a lump on the back of his head, and was overall bruised and battered.

As he came to, his first word was "Boris..."

"He's not here.  The KGB were armed, and blocked him from coming in."

Valery sank back in despair, his eyes still half glazed over.  I worried he had a concussion.

"Valery, we need to get you to the couch.  Do you think you can get up?". He nodded, and between him trying his best and me lifting him as much as my strength allowed, I managed to get him lying down.  I went and grabbed some warm water, bandages and gauze and began to fix him up.  The cut wasn't too bad; head injuries bleed a lot, so often seem worse. I applied an ice pack to the lump on his head, and checked his pupils, not happy with what I saw.  Then I saw the bruises on his ribs and back, where they had slammed him against the wall repeatedly and tears came to my eyes.  Valery, seeing this, assured me he was okay, but I could tell that just breathing was causing him a lot of pain.

"You're going to have to stay lying down as much as possible for at least a few days." I told him sternly, trying to hold back my tears.  He nodded.  "I'll stay here as much as I can.  It's the holiday break, so I don't have much required of me." There was a grateful look in his eyes that touched me.  Had he ever had anyone to look after him before?  Besides Boris?

I had to go to Moscow in about a week to renew my paperwork, and I determined right then and there that I was going to track down Boris Shcherbina no matter what it took.

____________________________________________

 As the week passed, a change came over Valery.  There was still a deep sadness in his eyes that I suspected nobody except Boris would ever be able to erase, but his spirit revived some.  I even managed to coax a small smile from him now and again.

Maybe it was just having a friend.  I don't know, but he talked more than before, took interest in his field again, and sometimes spoke of Boris, although that often brought tears to his eyes.

I didn't tell Valery my plan to track down Shcherbina in Moscow.  I was afraid that if I couldn't locate him it would break Valery's already fragile heart.  I decided it was better to surprise him if I was successful rather than risk hurting him.

Finally, the day arrived for me to go.  "Valery, please promise me you'll eat properly." I asked him.  He nodded.  Valery had mostly recovered, but still moved around somewhat stiffly.  I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, which made him blush and smile, then said my farewells.


	6. Boris Shcherbina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I attempt to find Boris Shcherbina in Moscow.

I was in Moscow, in the Kremlin.  I was surprised I had gained access, but now found myself facing an even more formidable barrier than the guards at the entrance: Boris' receptionist.

"I'm sorry, but no admittance without an appointment." When I protested feebly, she snapped at me.  "Young lady, I don't know where you think you are, but this is the office of Deputy Chairman Shcherbina.  He doesn't just see anybody who walks in off the street!"

Of course.  What was I thinking? But what was I going to do?  I just had to get in to see him for Valery's sake.  I went across the hallway and sat on a padded bench, hanging my head dejectedly.  Valery was fading away, and I knew Shcherbina was the only one who could snap him out of it.

I looked up when I heard the receptionist calling my name.  And there he stood, Boris Shcherbina.  I must have been staring in relief, because after a moment he raised an eyebrow and beckoned to me with one finger.  Flushing in embarrassment, I hurriedly got to my feet and walked over.

"This is Comrade Nensi.  She is to be allowed in to see me whenever she stops by, as long as I am not in a private meeting, of course." I gaped up at Shcherbina, and he winked at me in response, motioning me to follow him into his office.

My head was still reeling from his graciousness.  It was obvious he remembered me from that day in the alley, although really all I could remember was his raspy voice and strong hands.  He was an older gentleman and very attractive.  He had silver hair and very piercing eyes, although those eyes were regarding me with kindness.  I almost found myself blushing at his perusal, his charisma acting on me.  No wonder Valery was drawn to this man!

"So, it is you.  Are you feeling better?" I  nodded shyly.

"Thank you again..." I started, but he waved off my thanks casually.  "Seeing you are alright is thanks enough," he declared adamantly.  "And your job at Kurchatov?"

"It is adequate." I was not going to gripe about my job to the Deputy Chairman of Energy.  And that wasn't why I was here, anyway.  "Actually, about that..."

"Now, Comrade Nensi, I have some pull, but I am limited in what I can do at Kurchatov." He grimaced and I realized he was thinking about his attempts to find Valery.

"No, Deputy Chairman..." He waved me off.  "Boris, please," he said.

"Boris," I said shyly.  "I was actually hoping I could help you with something."  That eyebrow went up again, but he motioned for me to continue.  And so I told him about Valery, about how he was doing, and what had happened that day Boris came looking for him. 

Part way through my story, he leaned forward and grasped my forearms in his powerful hands.  His eyes burned into mine, as if to discern if I was telling the truth.  As I finished up by telling him Valery's poor condition, I choked up with concern.  Immediately, his grasp loosened and his gaze, though still piercing, was filled with something else as well.  Belief?  Distress?  I couldn't tell.  Maybe a combination of those, with some desperation thrown in.

"Damn!  I've got to get in there to see him!"

"Can I help in some way?  Maybe if I got him into another room the day you're coming, so the KGB won't be able to find him?"

Boris walked up on me so quickly, I took a reflexive step back.  But he closed the distance and cupped my face in his hands.  "It will be dangerous." he warned. 

"I don't care!  That man is wasting away slowly but surely!" I shouted.

Surprisingly, he let out a laugh.  "Easy, my lion-hearted Nensi!  I am not the enemy!  But if you're truly willing to help?" This last was asked pleadingly.  I nodded, determined to both help Valery and ease Boris' distress.  

 


	7. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boris and Valery are reunited at last.

Boris and I developed a plan.  I would let him know when the KGB were at Kurchatov in force, and he would plan to come a day or two later.  He would tell me about what time, and I would smuggle Valery into an empty apartment.  Although I was no longer on trash collection duty, Boris had gotten extra keys made so I could still access the empty rooms.

The day arrived and I got Valery into the empty apartment.  And then Boris' arrived.  When Boris and Valery finally saw each other after so long, they collided in an intense embrace that seemed like it would never end.  Tears came to my eyes watching the sheer joy of their reunion. 

In fact, I felt a bit shy about being there right then, a third wheel, as it were.  I had just about decided to leave unobtrusively, when Boris turned to me. 

 "Where do you think you are going?" He gestured imperiously for me to come to him.  Between feeling a bit like an intruder and Boris' charisma, it's a wonder I didn't blush.  I got about halfway there when suddenly I was engulfed in a bear hug so tight I wondered if I'd be able to breathe.  When Boris finally pulled back, he had tears in his eyes.  "Thank you." I nodded, half teary myself.

Having been released from one embrace, I was pulled into Valery's arms, the hug no less intense, though less smothering.  Bashful Valery kissed my cheeks, but couldn't speak, close to tears.

I hugged him back happily.  The rest of the day was spent in each other's company, celebrating.  Several times, I tried to excuse myself, not wanting to intrude too much, but always Valery and Boris insist I stay.  Their happiness infected me and I happily stayed around until evening.

I wondered though if either of them had given thought to where things would go from here.


End file.
